Giants Score 24 Unanswered Second-Half Points in Big Road Win: The Giants upset the Atlanta Falcons 27-14 at the Georgia Dome as New York scored 24 unanswered second half points in a big road victory. With the Eagles losing to the Saints, the Giants are now tied at 3-2 with the Cowboys for second place in the NFC East behind the 4-2 Eagles.
“I thought the second half was well played,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “It was very hard, tough football. I did not think the first half was very good, although defensively holding a team like that to seven points was good. Offensively we were in position a number of times, but we did not pull the trigger because of penalties and what have you. We came back in the second half and played well. I was really happy for the players. We had a gut check at halftime and they came out and played well. The team came here with a great purpose. It was in a dome stadium against a very good football team. A team that had all kinds of statistics on special teams, defense, and offense that has played extremely well. We are very happy to get out of here with a win.”
“The good thing is that we didn’t get away from our running game despite being down by 11 points,” said HB Tiki Barber. “Fortunately we did what we do best and that is running the ball. We did some misdirection to take advantage of the speed of their linebackers. They have a very good defense. We have to give our coaching staff a lot of credit for that…We have a resilience about ourselves and no matter what the circumstances are, we don’t get down on ourselves. That is the character of this team. We continue to fight despite the circumstances and today we did that. Once we did that, we took control of the game and didn’t let up. It paid off in a good way.”
Things did not look good early in the 3rd quarter. Trailing the Falcons 7-3 at halftime, Atlanta HB Warrick Dunn broke off a 90-yard touchdown run on Atlanta’s first offensive play of the second half. The Falcons led 14-3 at this point in the game.
But the Giants’ ground game tore apart what had been the second-rated defense against the run. New York gouged the Falcons for 259 yards rushing with HB Tiki Barber leading the way with 185 yards on 26 carries. HB Brandon Jacobs and WR Michael Jennings chipped in with an additional 53 and 21 yards, respectively.
Meanwhile, a stingy Giants’ defense did not allow a single first down after the 90-yard run until late in the game with the Giants then up 27-14. In the game, Falcons’ QB Michael Vick was sacked seven times and turned the ball over twice.
Atlanta moved the ball on the game’s first possession, but the drive was halted with sack by Corey Webster on a corner blitz. After a Falcons’ punt, QB Eli Manning was intercepted on the Giants’ first offensive play of the game and the Falcons had the ball on the Giants’ 20-yard line to start their second possession. However, after a sack by DE Osi Umenyiora, a false start, and a 9-yard run, Vick was intercepted by CB Sam Madison at the Giants’ 3-yard line and Madison returned the pick 24 yards to the 27-yard line. After a three-and-out by the Giants, the Falcons turned the ball over again as Madison came up with the fumble recovery.
Barber gained 33 yards on two carries at the start of the Giants’ third possession of the game. But a holding penalty on TE Jeremy Shockey, an incomplete pass, and a Barber run for no gain put the Giants in a difficult 3rd-and-18 situation. Manning’s pass intended for WR Tim Carter was intercepted at the Atlanta 10-yard line. At this point in the game, Manning was 1-for-5 for four yards with two interceptions.
The Falcons picked up one first down and punted. The Giants continued to struggle on offense. Barber lost a yard, Manning was sacked, and his deep pass to WR Plaxico Burress fell incomplete on 3rd-and-14. The Giants’ defense held as Atlanta went three-and-out. Starting at their own 12-yard line, the Giants finally managed to put a drive together as New York moved the ball 85 yards in nine plays. But the drive stalled at the Atlanta 3-yard line and the Giants were forced to settle for a 21-yard field goal by PK Jay Feely. New York led 3-0.
The Falcons, however, then put together an impressive 10-play, 72-yard drive that culminated with a 22-yard touchdown run by Vick – and this despite the fact that Vick was sacked twice on this drive by LB Brandon Short. The Giants received the ball with less than two minutes left in the half. A second sack of Manning sabotaged that drive and New York trailed 7-3 at halftime.
The Giants picked up one first down to start the second half but then were forced to punt. Dunn, as mentioned, then broke off a 90-yard touchdown run to give the Falcons a 14-3 lead early in the third quarter.
The Giants then dominated the rest of the game.
New York responded immediately with a 9-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Jacobs. Barber broke off runs of 29 and 16 yards, Manning hit Carter for a key 15-yard reception on 3rd-and-11, and then Carter was interfered with for a gain of 25 yards. New York now trailed 14-10.
After a three-and-out by the Falcons, the Giants’ offense went back to work. This time the Giants went 91 yards in 11 plays with Manning hitting Shockey for a 2-yard touchdown pass. It was a balanced effort with good running by Barber and Jacobs, as well as timely passes from Manning, including two other key passes to Shockey. The Giants now led again by three points, 17-14.
Again, the defense held and the Falcons punted after three plays. Defensive tackles Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins split a sack. The Giants only managed to move 30 yards in six plays, but this set up a successfully 39-yard field goal by Feely to give the Giants a 20-14 lead.
Three-and-out again by Atlanta. Vick was sacked for the sixth time as Umenyiora nailed him again. The Giants then put the game away by driving 55 yards in 9 plays. Manning hit Shockey for his second touchdown of the game this time from four yards out. The Giants were up 27-14 with less than four minutes to play.
Atlanta finally picked up their second and third first downs of the second half on the ensuing drive, but that possession ended with a 10-yard sack by Cofield on 4th-and-7. Atlanta received the ball only one more time, but the clock expired after the Falcons reached New York’s 22-yard line.
Manning finished the first half 6-of-12 for 60 yards and two interceptions. However, in the second half, he went 11-of-18 for 120 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
“We would like to get off to a fast start and start well in the first half and tried to get the lead,” said Manning. “At least we played great in one of those halves. We just had some bad breaks (in the first half). I give a lot of credit to Atlanta. They have a good defense. The second half we really calmed things down and ran the ball great. Tiki had a big day. The offensive line did a great job and the receivers and tight ends started making some plays when we needed it… When Tiki starts to run the ball we start to control the tempo of the game. The play-action starts opening up some. He (Tiki) is unbelievable and he does a great job. Every day, every game he impresses me more.”
“Eli’s the captain of the ship,” said OC Shaun O’Hara. “He’s the one that’s directing all the sales. He’s the one that gets us up there. He does a great job managing that aspect of it…We put a lot on Eli, and every week, he’s in charge of a lot. He’s really the one that gets us on the same page.”
Shockey had his first two-touchdown game of his career and finished with six catches for 55 yards. “He’s been banged up, but he had a great week of practice and is looking to be back to full speed,” said Manning. “He made some big plays. He made some big third down conversions and two touchdowns. He’s back and playing well. It’s just another weapon in this offense.”
Of course, the big story, offensively was the ground the game that accrued 259 yards against one of the top-ranked defense in the NFL. “We run very well to our left side,” said Barber. “Our schemes are designed to work well to our left. We did it last week and again this week. As long as it’s effective, we will keep doing it.”
Defensively, the Giants played lights-out in the second half.
“We were just trying to be aggressive against the run and the pass,” said DE Michael Strahan. “We had a few mishaps and let him (Vick) run for one TD. We had another one with Warrick Dunn. But hey those two are their playmakers. We settled down and got after it. It’s not that we didn’t think they could run. Stats and film show they can. But we didn’t let that hinder the way we played them today.”
“It was absolute domination,” said Short. “After a bit of a slow start, absolutely. Michael Vick is arguably the most explosive player in football. But we had a game plan today, and we executed the game plan very well today.”
Post-Game Notes: Inactive for the Giants were SS Gibril Wilson (toe), LB Carlos Emmons (pectoral muscle), WR Sinorice Moss (quad), HB Derrick Ward (foot), DT Jonas Seawright, OT Guy Whimper, OT Na’Shan Goddard, and QB Tim Hasselbeck (third quarterback).
The Giants have not lost in Atlanta since 1978, winning six straight against the Falcons as the road team. In fact, the visiting squad has won 11 straight in the Giants-Falcons series.
